Curved projection screen



United safes Patent o Mo. t

Filed Apr. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 725,946 8 Claims. (Cl. 88-28.90)

This invention relates to projection screens and more specifically to projection screens used for wide angle picture projection which are curved and cover an angle which is larger than the angle encompassed by the conventional projection produced by means of a standard projector.

Wide angle projection has beenV introduced because pictures extending over an angle of 135 to 180 or even to a larger angle produce for the spectator a more realistic impression, giving the illusion of being in the midst of the scene appearing on the screen.

Screens of these types show however some specific noticeable disadvantages due to the fact that the light thrown on the screen from the projector is not in its entirety reflected towards the audience or towards the space in front of the screen. Usually the audience is seated in front of the projector between the latter and the screen and this entails a curvature of the screen, the center of which does not coincide with the position of the projector. Some of the light rays impinging upon the screen are thus reflected at an angle which is not 'sufficiently close to the incident rays to avoid the lateral portions of the screen.

The reflected rays striking another portion of the screen produce however two undesirable effects; one of these consists in producing a burning spot on the portion of the screen hit by the reflected rays for the onlooker, and the second disturbing effect consists in illuminating all the shadows of the projection picture hit by reflecting rays, thus reducing the contrast between lights and shadows of the projection picture. On this contrast however the quality of the picture largely rests. Further, with colored pictures in addition a considerable color deterioration occurs.

The second effect occurs also when the light reflected from one portion of the screen to another portion is not concentrated on any narrow portion but is merely scattered.

It `has therefore been necessary to use some means reducing this effect. It has been proposed in connection with curved screens and especially in connection with spherical screens to subdivide the screen into separate areas. More specifically it has been proposed to make a scren consisting of louvres the slats of which are oriented in the proper direction to avoid reflection towards the interior of the screen. This however greatly complicates the construction of the screen increasing the manufacturing costs. v I

For a different purpose and also for different reasons, and more specifically in order to allow the production of stereoscopic pictures without viewing apparatus, screens have been constructed with plural projection surfaces in order to allow the showing of a picture taken by the righ hand lens of a stereoscopic camera only to the right eye, while a picture taken through the left hand lens of the camera is only visible to the left eye of the onlooker. This simultaneous projection of two different images which cannot -be simultaneously seen with both eyes has been accomplished by providing the screen with a series of protruding ridges or a series of receding grooves with faces turned into two different directions towards the two eyes of a spectator. Screens of this type must however essentially be flat screensY and moreover the manufacturing of Vsuch a screen is rather complex.

ice4

They are solely effective for a very small audience which has to be concentrated on a certain spot.

According to the invention the rellection of light from one portion of a curved and especially from a semi-cir-V cular cylindrical screen to another portion of the same screen is prevented wit-hout impairing the eiiiciency of the screen projection by providing the screen with corrugations, projections or grooves running in substantial parallelism with the axis of the cylinder of which the screen forms a sector which corrugations protrude outwardly and/ or inwardly from the cylindrical surface, said corrugations being made in part reflective and in part unreflective by providing that part of the corrugations which reflects light coming from the projection apparatus towards thescreen with a nonreflecting light absorbing surface.

The principle on which the effectiveness of such a screen, the curved or cylindrical surface of which is provided with a large number of projections and grooves or corrugations, rests, will be best understood when considering the fact that each corrugation or projection necessarily contains surfaces which rellect in the desired direction namely towards the space in front of the screen and other surfaces which reflect in the prohibited direction namely towards other parts of the screen. The large number of corrugations therefore distributes the portions reflecting in the undesired direction over the entirescreen, narrowing however each single portion down to a small vertical strip limited on both sides by the strip-like portions reflecting in the desired direction.

VIf those portions which would reflect towards the screen are made non-rellective-either by a coating or -by suitably selecting the material from which they are inaderellection towards the screen is suppressed, but the full extent of the cylinderical or otherwise curved screen is available for reflection. While it is true that the portion of the Vscreen reflecting towards the audience now consists only in reflective strips, the diminution of the available surface for reflection in the desired direction is compensated and frequently overcompensated by the increase of screen surface due to the corrugation. The sum total of the area covered by reflective strips is usually larger than the arc of the simple circular cylindrical surface and the non-reflective strips between the reflecting strips are suiciently narrow to escape notice. The eiiiciency of the screen is thus not diminished but may even be enhanced.

The invention may be carried into elect by using preferably corrugations with curved walls forming either a wavy line or a series of curved ridges or ribs or a series of'stepped ratchet teeth like projections or grooves, presenting two surfaces differently inclined towards the central plane of symmetry, or forms of teeth with curved backs -may be selected. l

The invention is illustra-ted inthe accompanying drawings showing several modifications thereof. It is, however, to be understood that the modifications shown are illustrative only showing the invention by way of example and diagrammatically; the drawing does not intend to show a survey of possible modifications. A departure Vfrom the modifications illustrated in the drawings is therefore not necessarily a departure from the essence of the invention. v

In the drawings all ligures showV diagrammatically a Y sectional plan View with a horizontal section either through a screen covering approximately orthrough a section of such a screen.

. FIGURE 1 illustrates diagrammatically a plan view'V with a section through a screen covering approximately 180 provided with corrugations which have y'approxi- `mately the shape of semi-circles joined to each other so as to produce a wavy or sinusoidal line. The scale at center of the screen.

posed larger? distances do not produce materiallyV dieri' .ontconditions. 'f Y f l With aisimple cylindricalA screenV the rays from the .projector thus impinge, on the cylindricall screensurface;

. funden .an` angle, which @approaches a right angle only in 3 which the corrugations are shown is however greatly exaggerated.

FIGURE 2 illustrates a similar screen which has been divided intor sections, the corrugations of each section being treated approximately in the same way with respect. to the covering of parts with light absorbing material throughout the section. This distribution of the light reflecting and. light. absorbing portions corresponds to the average distribution within the section.

FIGURES 3 and 4 are sectional plan views showing cylindricalI screens which are scallopedf the screen being` provided. withcorrugations the convex side of which is turned. towards the same side.

FGURE 5.- shows a modification in which the screen l. instead of being scalloped or provided' with semi-'circular corrugations is provided with straight faced triangular ratchet` teeth-l-ike corrugations.

FIGURES 6, 7 and 8 show various forms of intermediate shapes of corrugations usable in this' connection showing teeth Vwithfa straight front and a curved' back. In all figures the reflecting portion of the screen corrugations is shown inV heavy lines while the non-rellecting portion. of the corrugations of the screen is indicated by dotted lines.

The general` principle of the invention may best. be explained inconnection with a screen such as shown in FlG-UREll.

The screen 10' may be made of conventional material and is of cylindrical type. In. the example shown the screenjcovers an. arcy of approximately 180, but screens having `al smaller or a larger arcuate extension may be used; the arc to be covered being selected in accordance with the special conditionsrunder which projection takes place.

A screen of this type is always used in connection` with a special projection system, producing wide angle projection pictures, either by using a special projector or by using a plurality of projectors, or special. lenses or special films. s.y will be seen. in FIGURES l and 2, theV screen 10 while curved along a cylindricalv surface with a cir'- cular base does not present a smooth semicircular cylindrical' surface,v but isprovided. with corrugations 11 and 12 which may be of sinusoidal shape or which mayconsist of a series of semi-circles alternativelyl projectingoutwardlyand inwardly from the basic circle; These corrugations are joined to produce an approximately semicircular wavyrline.

Such a screen has a very much enlarged surfacerwhen compared with av simple cylindrical' surface and this surface enlargement considerably increases the,- efficiency' of' the screen. However this increase of eciency without the inventionwouldl be accompanied by the disadvantages explained below.

' Thel ideal location'for the projector as well as forthe observer is the point O located` in the axis of'l the cylinder formed bythe screenY 10: The audience is therefore' placed onl both sides of this point behind t-he'same. The viewf of' the projection picture becomes however progressively distorted with increased distance from Ythe plane off symmetry so that thev areai in which the audience may be seated is limited by optical conditions The pro.-

jector is not located aty this ideal' point `but generally is' 'located at a point P in the rear of the point O in the plane of symmetry. l V Y Y The distance of the projector. from :the center ofthe l screenvaries considerablyin accordancewith the outlay. ofthe. theatre in which projection 'takesy place. For

" the purpose of ktesting the elici'ency of" the screen it is usually..assumedV that theprojector is arranged at a` dis,-V

the central regions of a cylindrical screen so that only these rays are re'ected towards the center. All other rays from the projector impinge on the screen'under an angle which decreases gradually towards the ends of the screen. The angle of the incident ray towards the radius forming the perpendicular to the reflectingv surface thus gradually increases so that the reflected rays in the lateral screen sectors are nolonger reilected towards the area in which the audience is seated but are reflected towards the other portions of the screen producing hot spots and illuminating the shadows of the'picture thus decreasing the contrasts betweenlight and shadow and thereby degrading the quality of the picture.

The concentrationl of the reflected rays on hot spots isv considerably improved if the screen is providedy with the corrugations 11, 12 because different portions of the corrugations reflect light in different directions; but the corrugations on the other hand add to the scattering of light and produce therefore a more evenly distributed degradationV ofthe picture.

According, to the invention the degrading elect of the rays reflected towards the screenI is avoided by making that portion of eachv corrugation whichl would reflect light towards the screen non-reflecting. Y

It willi be observed that the expedient used according' to the invention is only possible if portions reecting' towards the screen and portions reiiecting towardsy the audiencev are distributed evenly over the screen and alternate so that theA non-reflecting portions can receive the shape ofV narrow strips between reflectingportions and therefore cannot disturb the impression produced by the picture.

As will be observed from FIGUREV l ineach corruga tion 11 a portion 15 is foundy reflecting lightreceivedy from the projector towards thespace occupied 'by' theI audience seated on both sides ofY the. central plane of symmetry; fromI another portion 16- on each corrugation. the light from the projectorI is reliected in the direction of the screen itself; By malt-ingthe latter portions nonreectivethe active and useful potrions ofl therefle'ctedl light is preserved whilel the reflection of disturbing plight is suppressed'.

As clearly seen in FIGUR- E lithe light absor-bingI sections of. the corrugationsvary in size and location theoretically frornr` corr-ligation to corrugation. In tlie central portion of the screen the central portion ofV each cor-Y rugation. reflects towards the area-` occupiedl by Ythe audience, whileV in theVr lateral portions of the screen only the; lateral. portions of. the corrugations are turned' towards the projector and reflect in the direction' which is desiredV whilef the centralV portion. of the corrugation is ineffective or reflects towards the screen itself. Y

That portion of. the corrugated surface` which: rellects .towards the space occupied. by the audience is however stilllarger than the simple: circular cyiindrical. surface of the; screen and thez screen surface is thus` aseicient on evenamore efficient than a screen.- with a smooth circulan cylindrical surface. l

' The surfaces 16.Y of the corrugations` which reflect light towards'the screen itself may be made light ablsorptive tance of about one-half" of the: screen radius from the'v Within the' limits practically imbyfpaintingtthem-with arlight'absorbing. paint', for instance wlth black paint: However light-absorption can also. be obtainedin many other ways., Y

The surfaces. of thercorrugations which have to be light v absorptive cany be treated during:k the manufacturing process offthe screen..v The location of these light ab- Ysorbingzones are'off course dependent on the width of thetscreen. and on` thel location of. the projection booth relatively to. the: center of the screenk but with these two data the extent of the light. absorbing zones is predeten, mined for every'corrugationand'may be marked thereonvso that in thel case. of painting for instance the paint Vcan Y i beplaced. there in'advance. Y

YConversely the'screen may bemanufactured'ofV light absorbing material. and can'afterwards .besilvered or provided with. al light-reflecting surface onlyhalong"thosefsecf tions which reect in the desired direction towards the' audience.

The corrugations must be of exact design and it is preferred to make all corrugations alike. Preferably they are as wide as they are high, but they may somewhat deviate from this shape. If much wider than high they cannot distribute the light evenly and near the ends of the screen the sides of the corrugations which are operative are at an unfavorable angle causing poor picture reception at the lateral extremes of the theatre. The actual height of the corrugations in some tested screens was 1A". But this size may vary considerably. This iigure mentioned will however show the degree of exaggeration of the scale in the drawing.

For the purpose of manufacturing a screen and in order to use the most effective manufacturing methods it is possible to sectionalize the screen and to treat the corrugations in each section alike. Three, iive or more sections may be provided, for instance, a central section C and two lateral sections L1 and L2. on each side. Such a sectionalized screen is illustrated in FIGURE 2. As will be seen the deviation of the extent of the zones 15 and 16 which are reflecting and non-reflecting in the sections L1 and L2. respectively from the individually treated Y zones shown in FIGURE 1 is only slight.

Instead of providing corrugations of the type shown in FIGURES l and 2, corrugations of other shapes may be used provided that these corrugations are small and are distributed over the entire screen. FIGURES 3 and 4 show scalloped screens in which corrugations of halfwave shape or of semi-circular shape are provided with the apices of all the half waves turned towards the same side. FIGURE 3 shows a scalloped screen with semicircular corrugations 18, the convex side of which is turned towards the outside, while the concave side is turned towards the inside. Where the contiguous corrugation join a crest 21 facing the inside is formed. FIG- URE 4 shows a scalloped screen with corrugations 19, the convex side of which is turned towards the inside, while the crests are turned outwardly.

Again according to the invention those portions of each corrugation which reflect towards the inside and are designated by 20 are made light absorptive by painting them with a light absorptive paint or by other means. Both screens permit to obtain Very good results with a total reflecting area, which is considerably larger than the area of a simple cylindrical surface.

To increase the reflecting surface the corrugations of the screen may adopt a triangular shape similar to ratchet teeth, in cross section, as shown in FIGURE 5. Preferably these triangular ratchet teeth corrugations 24 are however of different height, the height increasing when proceeding from the center towards one of the edges of the screen as is clearly seen from FIGURE 5 where the height of the teeth 27 in the center is much smaller than the height of the teeth 26 near the end of the screen. The steps for-ming the front portion of the ratchet teeth thus likewise increase steadily so that the reflecting portion of the teeth towards which the rays from the projector are directed does not decrease proportionately when proceeding from the center towards the end, but is more nearly constant and so inclined that it substantially reilects the rays in every section of the screen towards the space in which the audience is seated. The front or stepped portion Z6 is painted with light absorbing paint or made light absorptive in other ways. It will be noted that the reflecting portions of the teeth in this case are planar and that the teeth-like corrugations can be so arranged that all the planar surfaces are facing the projector and therefore reflect toward the space occupied by the audience.

The increase of the scrrensurface in this case is smaller than the increase produced by cylindrical corrugations, but the proportion of the surfaces reflecting towards the space in front of the screen and reflecting towards the screen is more favorable.

FIGURES 6 to 8 show teeth shaped corrugations 30, 32, 35 respectively of different forms. FIGURE 6 shows teeth-like corrugations 3l), the back 33 of which is formed as a quadrant of a circle in cross section while the stepped front portion 31 of the teeth is planar. In FIGURE 6 the planar fronts 3:1 of the teeth are essentially radially directed and are all turned towards one direction. In FIG- URE 8 the front 34 of similar teeth-like corrugations is inclined towards the radial direction and may be slightly curved if desired.

A sectional screen may be constructed with sections having teeth-like corrugations such as shown in FIGURE 6 and sections having teethalike corrugations the front of which looks in the opposite direction. Obviously, when proceeding from the center towards one end of a screen, teeth-like corrugations such as shown -in FIGURE 6 are of advantage, while teeth with front portions facing in the opposite direction may be used on the other side of the screen.

In a screen such as shown in FIGURE 6, the back 33 of the teeth is the reflecting portion in` the center and on the right side of the screen, while on theV left side of the screen the front side 31 of the teeth-like corrugations are non-reflecting. To avoid this the left side of the screen may be replaced by corrugations such as above explained, with teeth having front sides 31 facing the other way.

FIGURE 7 shows similar teeth-like corrugations 40 which are so -shaped that the space between the teeth is approximately equal to the space occupied by the cross section of the teeth. The teeth are thus spaced more evenly. Again the front side 35 of the teeth is -made light absorptive by paint or by using a light absorbing material and the backs 36 of the teeth are made partially reflecting.

Other shapes of the are equally eiective.

, It will thus be seen that it is not so much the shape of the corrugations or their curvature in detail which produces the desired effect but the fact that the cylindrical surface, instead of following a circular guiding l-ine follows a wavy or zigzag or a similar line which provides a number of corrugations, teeth, projecting ridges or grooves each of which |has a surface facing in diiferent directions, these corrugations being substantially regularly and preferably evenly distributed over the whole cylindrical surface. The surfaces of each small corrugation thus present to the projector rays surfaces which partly reilect towards the space in front of the screen and partly would reflect in other directions if the reflection from the last named portions of the corrugation were not eliminated by covering the surfaces of these portions with light absorptive material. The important Vfeature of the invention is therefore that these surfaces which are m-ade light absorptive are more or less regularly distributed Iover the entire screen instead of being concentrated in certain parts of the screen so that the light absorptive surfaces have only the shape of narrow strips embedded between the reflecting zones which are also strip-like. The sum total of reflecting surface is however in most cases still larger than the surface of the simple cylindrical screen so that the screen as a rule is as effective as a simple cylindrical screen and in many cases may be more effective. The subdivision of each inwardly and/or outwardly projecting corrugation into zones or strips reecting rays coming from the projector towards the space in front of the screen, and into non-reflecting strips suppressing reflections is therefore to be considered as part of the essence of the invention and changes of a minor nature such as those related to the form of the corrugations or the way in which the light absorptive condi-tion is produced are therefore not to be considered as essential parts of the invention as defined in the annexed claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

l. A reilecting proections screen with a projection corrugations may be used which with each other and all parallel to the axis Ydrical screen.v

tionsl along said continuously curvedL projection image re? ceiving surface of the screen, the surface of which is exposed to the light rays of the projection beam, said corrugations being each continuous and unbroken from end to end of theV screenk andi being eachll of uniform width throughout its length, said4 corrugations having reecting and non-reflecting surfaces separated by the line longitudi-Y nally thereof and along opposite sides of which an incident ray is reflected and non-reiiected respectively and on the reecting side of which the incident rays of the projection beam impinge on the surface of the corrugation. under an angle of incidence entailing reflection towards' the Viewing space, w-hile on the other side of said-` line" the rays irnpinge on the surfaceof the corrugat-ion under' an angleY of incidence of the beam which is ofsuch size that' the rays would be reflected towards a portion of the screen,`

such reflection being prevented by the non-reflecting chara direction at right angles to a central ray of the projection beam being larger than the extention of the ,non-l reflecting surfaces in the same direction so that the sum total ofthe reilecting surfaces of the corrugations, when f are parallel to theV axis of the cylinder along which the- Vscreen .is curved, t-he reflecting and non-reecting surfaces of the corrugations thus formihg strips alternating of the cylin- 3. A curved projection screen as` claimed in claim 1, wherein the screen is provided with evenly distributed corrugations of the same shape along its curved surfaceV Vand is dividedy `into Sections, the non-reecting and the a light reflecting portions of the corrugati-ons within each section being of equal delineation, corresponding to the average distribution of light reectin-g and nonereectinlg portions Within the section.

4. A curved cylindrical projection Screen as claimed in claim 1, wherein the continuous screen surface is provided' with a large number of evenly distributed, adjacent curved corrugations, each portion of the corrugation which is non-reflecting being enclosed between portions of the same or of an adjacent `corrugation whichl are light reflecting, reflecting and non-reecting portions of the surface of the corrugations thus alternating Va-nl forming.

strips of different widths which are parallel to the axis of the cylindrical screen, the width of the strips formed by the non-reflecting portions, when viewedv in the direction Iof the rays of the projection beam, being a fraction of the widthof the reflecting portion when viewed in the same direction, so that the total area of the reflecting portions is very nearly a continuous cylindrical projection surface when viewed Afrom the viewing space,

5. A curved portion screen as claimed in claim 1, wherein the oorrulgations are of sinusoidal shape and are of approximately equal depth and width.

6. A curved screen as claimed in' claim 1, wherein the corrugations yare semi-circularl and projecting.. inwardly and outwardly, thus: producing a wavy continuous screen surface.

7. A cylindrical projection screen as claimed injcl'am 1, wherein ythe corrugations arel semi-circular and wherein adjacent semi-circular corrugations project toward the same side thus forming a continuous scalloped projection surface'. Y

8. A cylindrical projection' screen as claimed in claimI 1, wherein the corrugations are ratchet teeth-like in crosssection and are provided with av curved back section,A and a substantially straight front section. Y

ReferencesfCited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,550,880 Clark Aug. 25, 1925 1,867,199l Wildhaber July 12, 1932 2,273,074 Waller Feb.,17,. 1.942` 2,476,521 Waller Jly 19,. 179.49 2,804,801 Mihalakis ..Y Sept. 3,. 1957 2,828,667V Grossman Apr. 1, 19h58 

